The chief eunuch stood silent for a long moment, studying Rhonwyn. Her body was utterly flawless but for that ugly bush of hair at the junction where her two thighs met. That would be removed immediately. The limbs, however, were shapely and firm. The breasts small but nicely rounded with pert nipples. Bathed and properly garbed, she would be truly worthy of his master's bed.
'She is lovely,' a new voice interjected, and they turned to find the lady Alia had joined them. 'What kind of a girl do you think she is?'
'Warlike and difficult,' Baba Haroun said immediately.
Alia laughed and patted his hand. 'You are too protective of me, Haroun, and most prejudiced where any other woman is concerned. What think you, lady Nilak?'
'I am not certain yet, my lady, but this girl is, I believe, intelligent. I do not sense any wickedness about her, but she has been in my company only an hour or more. However, a woman who could convince her husband to allow her warlike pursuits is both clever and headstrong. She has been very brave these past few days, as you will come to see when I tell you her tale. Now she has only just realized her fate, and it has put her into shock. We will ascertain more of her character when she awakens in a few hours.'
'Baba Haroun,' the lady Alia said, 'see that Noor is carefully guarded until I send the lady Nilak back to watch over her.' She turned to the older woman. 'Come, and you will tell me this girl's story.'
Nilak followed the caliph's wife to her apartments, and they sat together as Nilak repeated what Rhonwyn had told her.
Alia was thoughtful for a few moments when Nilak had finished, and then she said, 'Noor has done me a great favor in slaying Prince Abdallah, although she can hardly know it. Unless she sets herself up against me, she will have my friendship for that alone. If anything had happened to my lord Rashid, Abdallah would have killed my son to gain the caliphate for himself. Praise Allah he is now in Paradise, and not Cinnebar.' Then her usually serene face grew concerned.
Nilak sighed. 'I cannot say, gracious lady,' she answered honestly. 'I do not know what the girl will be like once she awakens from her slumbers. Rest may restore her urge to resist.'
'When she is bathed, bring her to me,' the caliph's wife said.
Nilak arose and bowed to the lady Alia. Then she withdrew, hurrying back to where her new charge lay in a restless sleep, watched over by two armed eunuchs. 'You may go now,' she told the two guards, and sat down next to Rhonwyn. She beckoned to a slave girl and sent her for the embroidery she had been working on earlier. Receiving it, she bent over her needle once again.
Rhonwyn awoke, confused as to where she was, her mouth dry. Then Nilak's lace came into her view, and the girl fell back against her pillows. 'I am thirsty,' she said weakly.
Nilak poured her a goblet of liquid and held it to her lips. 'It is fruit juice,' she said as Rhonwyn greedily gulped down the contents of the goblet. 'How do you feel now, my child?'
'Still tired' came the wary reply. Then Rhonwyn looked down, and seeing she was naked, gave a small cry. 'What have you done with my garments, lady?' She was blushing furiously, and there was nothing nearby with which she might cover herself.
'You could not sleep in those rough garments, my child. Your lovely limbs were prickled with the mail of your leg and arm coverings. Only that padding about your breasts saved them from being so evilly marked. Can you stand up? You must go to the baths and be washed. You have slept almost the entire day away.'
'Could you not have put another garment on me?' Rhonwyn demanded.
'A clean garment on a filthy body?' Nilak sounded shocked.
'I am going nowhere without something to cover me,' Rhonwyn insisted stonily.
'I realize you are not used to being naked, my child, but we are all females here,' Nilak replied quietly. 'Come now, do not be foolish. The baths will restore you.' Nilak arose and held out her hand.
Nilak did not bother to argue further. Noor was going to have to learn obedience sooner than later. She signaled to two eunuchs. 'The lady Noor is to be escorted to the baths and is having a moment of obstinacy. See that she overcomes it. I will meet you there.' Then she moved off, crossing the main room of the harem, a small smile upon her pretty face as she heard the shriek of outrage behind her. She did not bother to turn about. The eunuchs had been given their orders and would carry them out. Nilak entered the baths and called for the bath mistress.
'Good day, Sarai,' she said as the bath mistress came.
'Good day to you, Nilak. You are bringing me the warrior woman? Where is she? I hear he wants her tonight and there will be a great deal to do with this one.'
'She is coming,' Nilak said with a small laugh. 'She objected to being naked, and two eunuchs had to escort her, I fear.'
'Foolish creature,' Sarai muttered. 'These Frankish women are so ridiculous in their fear of nudity. Ah, here she is.'
Rhonwyn was pink with her outrage. The two eunuchs had grasped her arms and hustled her through the harem, practically lifting her off her feet when she resisted them. When they put her down before the bath mistress and Nilak, she whirled and struck them both with her fists. 'Barbarians!' she shouted angrily.
The eunuchs were surprised by her ferocity, but neither was hurt by the blows. They laughed and then departed.
Rhonwyn turned again and said to Nilak, 'How could you let them do that to me, lady?'
'I do not argue with foolish girls,' Nilak said sternly. 'The rule in this world is obedience, Noor. When you do not or will not obey, you will be made to, my child. Now, you are not a stupid girl, so this should be the only lesson you will need.'
'I will escape this place, return to my old world,' Rhonwyn said defiantly.
'No, you will not,' Nilak said implacably. 'Even if by some miracle you managed to leave the palace, you would not know where to go, and you would be caught and brought back. You would be whipped upon the soles of your feet until you could not walk for three days. That is the punishment for disobedient slave girls. We do not mar the beauty of harem women, but unruly behavior must be punished. Cease your foolishness, Noor! We have much to do before moonrise. This is Sarai, the bath mistress. You will obey her, and I will be by your side to see that you do.'
'You remind me of my aunt,' Rhonwyn said. 'She is an abbess.'
Nilak laughed. 'And did she have to speak so directly to you, my child?'
'Aye,' Rhonwyn said, and then followed the two older women into the balhs.
She had never thought herself a dirty woman, but she had also never known what clean truly was. She was rinsed and soaped. A silver instrument was used to scrape the dirt from her body. She was rinsed again. A thick peach-colored paste with a heavy fragrance was smoothed over her arms, her legs, beneath her arms, and atop her Venus mons. She was brought a cup of hot, sweet mint tea. When she had finished it, she watched in utter amazement as the paste was rinsed from her body, and her body hair with it.
Rhonwyn looked down at her mons and blushed. She had never noticed before how plump it was, nor the deep rosy slash that bisected its twin halves. There was an intense sensuality to her body now that made her very uncomfortable. Neither her nudity, nor their own nudity, seemed to disturb her two companions. What an odd world, she thought as she sat quietly while her fingernails and her toenails were pared almost to the quick and then smoothed and shaped neatly.
Her gilt-colored hair with its gold and silver lights was most thoroughly washed several times until she thought her scalp was going to be scrubbed raw. Then her hair was carefully dried by hands that toweled and brushed until her tresses almost floated like thistledown in a west wind. They lay her upon a raised and padded bench, and an old crone carrying a basket came From the shadows.
'This will be the hardest thing for you to bear,' Nilak said. 'Rafi will cleanse your love channel for you. There is no prurience in her actions, my child. Remain quiet, and she will not hurt you.'
Rhonwyn's eyes were wide and startled at Nilak's words, but by now she realized that resistance was indeed futile. She tried not to tense as Rafi pulled her nether lips apart, bathing her gently in places Rhonwyn never knew could be bathed. The old lady's fingers pushed a soft cloth into her body, cleansing and purifying the path the caliph
